


In the Night

by lallyloo



Series: Tending the Fire [2]
Category: The Eagle of the Ninth - Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle | The Eagle of the Ninth (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, Family, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27467173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lallyloo/pseuds/lallyloo
Summary: Ronan has a nightmare.
Relationships: Marcus Flavius Aquila & Esca Mac Cunoval, Marcus Flavius Aquila/Esca Mac Cunoval
Series: Tending the Fire [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2006821
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	In the Night

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted to livejournal in 2011.
> 
> I've just realized it's not on Ao3 so here we are..

Marcus blinked awake. The room was shrouded in darkness, and Esca was breathing softly beside him. He listened carefully, trying to hear something more, trying to figure out what had disturbed his sleep.

Hearing nothing, Marcus turned from his back onto his side and stared into the darkness. Finally, his voice barely above a whisper, he spoke, “is someone there?”

A small voice answered him. “Marcus?”

“Ronan,” Marcus whispered, reaching out into the darkness. “Are you alright?”

Ronan didn't reply, but stepped closer until Marcus could see the small silhouette standing at the edge of the bed. “Are you alright?” he asked again, his voice conveying the concern that his foreign words could not.

“Bad sleep,” Ronan replied. His Latin was still coming slowly, but Marcus was pleased that Ronan was beginning to say more than yes and no when they spoke together.

“A nightmare?” Not recognizing the word, Ronan was silent. “Here,” Marcus said, pulling the bedsheets back and patting the bed. “Sleep here.”

Ronan crawled up onto the bed, settling in on his side, next to Marcus. He smelled of wood smoke and fresh air, and he let out a contented sigh as his small hand latched onto the front of Marcus's tunic.

“Bad sleep,” Marcus said, repeating Ronan's words. “What was it?”

Ronan was quiet for a moment before he replied in Latin. “He take away.”

“Take what away?”

“Ronan.”

The tiny admission made Marcus want to cry. He was the one constantly worrying about losing Ronan, and it hadn't occurred to him that Ronan might have a similar fear. “No one will take you away,” Marcus said, his voice still low enough not to wake Esca.

“ _You_ ,” he pointed to Ronan, the tip of his finger tapping Ronan's chest. “Belong here, with _me_.” He tapped his own chest. “ _And Esca_.”

“Yes,” Ronan said simply, and Marcus wanted to laugh and weep and hug the child all at the same time. Instead, he rested his chin on the top of Ronan's head as the boy snuggled in closer.

They'd been whispering together for several minutes, as much as they could with the language barrier between them, when Ronan seemed to remember Esca. “Esca is sleep?”

“Yes,” Marcus nodded, his chin mussing up Ronan's short hair. “Esca is sleeping.”

As if on cue, Esca let out a soft snore and Ronan giggled. He imitated the snore, a small snorting sound coming through his nose, and Marcus let out a loud burst of laughter.

Esca shifted beside them, suddenly half-awake, and began speaking in Briton as he often did in those moments between sleep and awake.

“Ronan,” he said, somehow aware that the boy was in the room. He asked if Ronan was alright, and they conversed for a moment in their language before Esca reached over Marcus to pat Ronan's head.

“You're ours,” he said in Latin, and Marcus smiled into the darkness as Esca fell back into slumber beside him. As he drifted off, his hand left Ronan's head and settled on Marcus's hip.

Ronan's breath grew more shallow as he followed Esca into sleep, and then a smiling Marcus followed as well, the three of them curled together in the warm little bed.


End file.
